The Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine
Humans have long divided each other into the wrong categories. What if, instead, those categories revealed a deeply personal way to treat disease?
“For centuries,” said Weizmann president Dr. Daniel Zajfman, “doctors have been trying to cure diseases. But we now understand that instead of trying to cure diseases, we should cure the patient.”
Advances in technology are making the invisible visible, more and more each day. With each discovery is a mountain of data that requires interpretation. Terabytes of data, sitting on machines, hold clues to the future of personalized medicine. More data gets added every day.
The Weizmann Institute’s Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine is committed to mining that base of knowledge, organizing and adding to it, so that the future of medicine can be customized to each person. Weizmann scientists are applying the full power of their collaborative curiosity. Listening to them share their process is like listening to astronauts speaking about the terrain of the moon, except that uncharted territory is the human body, and the giant leap made by those small steps could make life on earth infinitely better for millions of people.
Disease is terrifying mainly because it happens invisibly, inside the body, inside our cells. We never know when our genes will manifest a hereditary flaw, or when our own choices will be our undoing because we didn’t know that we were exposing ourselves to hidden dangers. Disease is terrifying because it can become a chronic or acute prison.
But what if we could understand? What if we could see? That’s what Weizmann is working to deliver to the world: a new level of insight into ourselves, to extend health and vitality.
“Personalized medicine,” said Nancy Grand, “means taking the guesswork out of a diagnosis, a prognosis, and a treatment for a disease.”
Paul Ramsbottom of the Wolfson Family Charitable Trust said that the project gets to the heart of modern medicine, and if successful, could have huge implications for mankind.
The implications are profound, especially since Weizmann is one of the world’s most deeply collaborative pure science research institutes. This iconic center represents cross-disciplinary innovation and an integrated approach to creating the future of personalized medicine. It’s an ambitious project that might sound impossible, except that it’s at Weizmann.
In the time I’ve been an Advocate for Curiosity, I’ve seen Weizmann’s amazing experimental cancer smart bomb go to market. I’ve learned about ants and leadership and cells reprogrammed back to their embryonic state. The implications of the future of personalized medicine, however, have completely captured my imagination, and my support.
